A Long Time Traveling Far Away From Home
by Grav
Summary: "If love is so powerful as to break curses, I think it ought to be complicated as well."


**AN**: Once Upon a Time came back! AND IT IS AWESOME! And I hope other people write about these characters, because I want to read it. Also, unbetaed flashfic is unbetaed. ;)

**Disclaimer**: Not mine! Although a lot of them are public domain, if I wanted to...

**Spoilers**: Broken

**Rating**: Kid friendly

**Characters**: Mulan, Aurora

**Summary**: "If love is so powerful as to break curses, I think it ought to be complicated as well,"

* * *

**A Long Time Traveling (Far Away From Home)**

"Shall you go your way now?" asked Aurora. Years of training, and the fact that she held Phillip's sword in her hands, kept her voice from trembling.

"There would be no honour in leaving you here," Mulan replied. She did not look up from where Phillip lay. "You do not know the location of the safe-haven, and there is much that is new in the world that Phillip did not have time to tell you of. We shall go together, for now."

"Thank you," said Aurora. "Thank you."

They stood by a while, and now that the danger was gone, the other horses returned to them. The creatures stood in their harnesses, chewing their bits and stomping. Mulan's horse nudged her with its nose, and that reminded her of her duties.

"We must lay him to rest," she said, though she did not move.

"We can return to my castle," said Aurora. "Let him lay where I did, unless you have another place."

"My places are all far away from here," Mulan said, and then bent to lift him, one last time, to his horse's back.

* * *

"When did you know you loved him?" Mulan asked, when the sun came up and chased away the last remnants of the night's dark terror.

Aurora smiled, quiet and sad.

"We were betrothed as children," she answered. "My parents feared Maleificent's revenge, and sought to ensure I was protected. Phillip was unimpressed."

"He did not love you on sight?"

"He was but twelve years, and I was not a sword or a dog or a gallant adventure," Aurora said. "He had little time for me, and to be honest, I had little for him."

"How did it come to be true love between you?"

"Our parents forced us together," Aurora said. "And how we hated it at first. But I knew all the secret ways to the kitchen, and which of the cooks could be bribed for sweets, and he knew all of the places to swim and climb trees, and we reached an accord."

"The accord of children," Mulan said.

"Yes, but it was a place to start." Aurora said. "And we have come far since then."

* * *

"Where are you from, Mulan?" Aurora asked. "I have not seen another person with a face like yours."

"It is very far," Mulan said. "And where I come from, pale skin and light hair is as uncommon as those with my colouring are here."

"The world is very big."

"Bigger, I think, than either of us can imagine."

The sun is at its highest point, but they do not stop. Some magic is held on Phillip's body. He does not harden, as the dead do, and the flies do not come. It gives Mulan hope.

"Do you miss it?" Aurora asked.

"I fear there is nothing left to miss."

* * *

"Do you fear me, princess?" Mulan asked.

"I do not," Aurora said. "After what happened to Phillip, I think I shall fear nothing again."

"I feared you," Mulan said. "I feared that he would never find you, and waste away in looking. And I feared that he would be successful, and leave me to myself."

"He would not have done that," Aurora said. "I know it. I have seen him with other soldiers, and I know he would not abandon them. But I suppose it would not have been the same."

"No," said Mulan. "But I am not afraid anymore either."

* * *

"How did you come here?" Aurora asked.

"The Dark Curse struck all the lands differently," Mulan replied. "In my country, it was a wave of dark clouds, rushing towards us. I was on a mission for my Emperor, and my comrade and I stood upon a bridge. The ropes gave way, and he fell. I could not hold him, and he would not hold me, lest the weight bring the last timbers down. I walked towards the light, though I grieved, and after days and days, I found Phillip's encampment."

Aurora let her reins go slack, and looked at her companion. Without the chainmail faceguard, Mulan looked so small inside her armour. If she didn't know better, Aurora would doubt her story was the truth. But she had seen Mulan in action, had no cause for doubt.

"You are very brave," she said. "To continue on like that."

"Princess, I think that is something else we have in common."

* * *

"I did love him," said Mulan, when the castle came into view. "I loved him as a man would, except I am a woman."

"Phillip had a great heart," Aurora said. "With time, he might have learned how to love us both."

"Would that have made you happy?" Mulan asked. "I confess, I hated you when True Love's Kiss awoke you from your curse."

"I think we would have had to learn as well," Aurora said. "I would not have been easy, but I would hate for our jealousy of each other to prevent us from being friends."

"Jealousy seems especially foolish now," Mulan agreed. Neither of them looked back at the trailing horse with its sad burden. "But what you say sounds very complicated."

"If love is so powerful as to break curses, I think it ought to be complicated as well," Aurora said.

"You are wise, Princess," Mulan said. "With your wisdom and my sword, we may yet do well."

"Perhaps then you should call me by name," Aurora said. Her horse stepped on to the broken cobbles of the castle road, and led the way under the crumbling gate.

* * *

Together, they laid him to rest. Mulan shed no tears, for the world had dried her of them, but Aurora cried for them both. With their prince, they laid to rest their resentments and their doubts. Each had misjudged the other, and knew they had been wrong.

And then the ground shook again, near the pit where the wraith had come into their broken and weary land, and the world changed once again.

* * *

**finis**

Gravity_Not_Included, October 3, 2012


End file.
